The present invention provides for a method and apparatus for the unloading of materials. To assist in understanding the present invention, problems which may be addressed by the present invention are discussed in the context of grass clippings. The present invention is not, however, limited to grass clippings as it may be used for unloading of other types of materials, including, but not limited to, particulate matter or other types of materials which do not flow well.
In lawn care services, grass clippings are collected, transported, and unloaded. The disposal of grass clippings is a part of the lawn care service. Unloading a trailer full of grass clippings can take 5 to 10 or more minutes to manually unload. This aspect of handling grass clippings adds cost and time to lawn care services.
Another problem with transporting and unloading grass clippings is that the grass quickly begins to decompose. Decomposing clippings clump and cling together. This also results in an odor and grass clippings which stick to containers in which the clippings are transported as well as individuals who manually unload the clippings. It is further observed that grass clippings, or other types of chopped forage material do not flow well, thus even if dumped from a container, manual labor is needed to more completely remove the material from the container. Thus, to remove grass clippings the container in which they are transported may require frequent cleaning such as through pressure washing, further adding to the time and cost of providing lawn care services. The problems may become even more pronounced where grass clippings are left within the container for extended periods of time allowing significant decay to occur before the container is emptied.
Similar problems are encountered with the unloading of other types of materials from wagons or other types of containers.
What is needed is an apparatus and method for unloading grass clippings and other types of materials which addresses problems with unloading.
Therefore, it is a primary object, feature, or advantage of the present invention to improve over the state of the art.
It is a further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method for loading grass clippings or other types of materials into a bin or container.
A still further object, feature, or advantage of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for unloading grass clippings or other types of materials from a bin or other container.
One or more of these and/or other objects, features, or advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the specification and claims that follow. No single embodiment need exhibit all of these objects, features, or advantages.